Tattooing has been a Eurasian practice dating back to the fifty millennium B.C. Tattooing techniques began with hand pricking that is widely used in Japan and rubbing cuts and wounds with ash. With advances in technology the standard and common way to tattooing is with a tattoo machine that uses alternating electromagnetic coils that move a series of very thin needles up and down. Tattooing techniques and technology have come a long way with even ink that glows under a blue light such as the picture below.
The reason why I believe that the word tattoo should be a key word is because it is a word that is still widely misunderstood. From a personal experience, in my family the thought of getting a tattoo is forbidden. My mother believes that people with tattoos are bad influences that do drugs and are going no where in their lives. Many of my friend's parents have the same mentality as my mother. From a traditional and very conservative Chinese prospective, getting a tattoo is taboo that defaces your body. In my mother's eyes, getting a tattoo is just as bad as smoking and doing drugs.
In my eyes, tattooing has no connection with defacing one's body. People with one or many tattoos view their bodies as a canvas, similar to a painting, where one can express their uniqueness. It is a way to show their identity on their body whether one has a cross or like myself, Chinese lettering on their body. Whenever a person gets a tattoo, there is some meaning and reason behind it. For example, my brother has a quote in Chinese characters on his left shoulder blade. When my parents found out about this, they were contemplating to disown him and kick him out of the house. My brother being a very sensible person would not get a tattoo for any reason. His quote on his back is a memorial to his very close friend that passed away. He views his tattoo as a symbol that he will never forget about his friend because he will always be on my brother's back. He wanted to show his deceased friend that the pain of getting his tattoo was nothing compared to the pain that he felt when his best friend passed away. Similarly, I got my tattoo to signify my bonds with my friends. It took me three years to decide if I really wanted a tattoo and I took my time to do my research on the Chinese characters I have on my back. The decision to wait three years also allowed me to decide if I really wanted to get a tattoo or not.
The image above is of my first tattoo that I got on December 1, 2007. The Chinese characters translate to loyalty. The reason why I chose to get this word was to show a quality of my personality on my skin. It was a way to show my friends that I would always be loyal and trustworthy to them in good and bad times. It was meaningful to get my tattoo because all of my closest friends went with me to show them the minuscule amount of pain that I would take for them.
The reasons and meanings to why people get tattoos is very personal. In the show Miami Ink, every person that comes into the Miami Ink shop has a story to why they want to get a specific tattoo. Watching Miami Ink, one can see the touching stories of people getting tattoos to remember a loved one or to signify one's faith. Getting a tattoo from a tattoo artist also shows a sign of faith towards the tattoo artist to let him or her put something on one's body for the rest of his or her life.
Why should the word tattoo be a key word now? Tattoos have become increasingly popular since the twenty-first century. Many celebrities have been getting tattoos such as David Beckham's famous angel wings. As influential people in the media get more tattoos, fans become intrigued with getting tattoos. I believe that the purpose of getting tattoos are loosing its meaning. Teenagers follow trends and see that tattoos are popular but they loose the meaning of why to get a tattoo. Even though there is an increasing population of people getting tattoos to just have one, there are still people out there who get and have tattoos for their own personal and meaningful reasons. Tattoos and tattooing has been misunderstood by many generations and even banned in countries. Tattoos are mistaken to be a symbol of rebellion but in reality tattoos are a person's symbol and identity. Whether a person gets a tattoo just to follow the trend or to remember a loved one, tattooing is a growing trend that is evolving and a style that older more conservative generations must learn to accept.
References:
Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundations, Inc. July 30, 2008
You Tube. Google. July 30, 2008
5 comments:
I like how you talk about how there is some misunderstanding on the word tattoo, and how different generations have different connotations on the word. As a suggestion, you might also want to ask the question to yourself "Why Now?", as in why this word "tattoo" should be a keyword. Maybe there is a shift in how a tattoo is perceived today and I see from your post that you did talk about that and the many reasons on why people get tattoos.
An interesting thing I thought of when reading your post, was how some women tattoo make-up on their face. I know maybe a few who have done this and I'm puzzled as to why they would want such a thing done. Is this considered a different form of art? Or is it just done out of the convenience of never having to directly apply makeup ever again. And also I was wondering if there were any strategic body placement of tattoos? Like your example of your brother, the memory of his friend will always be on his back, is this symbolic as in he will always "have his back?" Very interesting post, thanks for the read.
thanks for the post, looking forward to read it the moment you talked about it in class, because tattoo is really a fascinating subject.
When talking about tattoo, most people associated it with taboo things. But i think you have to consider parts of this world that encourage tattooing. For example Hawaiian people.
The reason i mentioned this because i have a good friend in hawaii
In hawaii, tattoo is considered to be part of their cultural mark. Not sure about the reasoning but it would be interesting to talk about it, I don't know if you watched WWE, but Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a good example, i think he mentioned that the tattoo symbolizes self discovery.
You can also talk about how tattoo change throughout the course of history, In the past, i think the "slaves" is marked with tattoo.
I was really excited to read your keyword because this relates to you on a personal level. When I was reading your post it brought back memories of my conversations with my mom and tattoos. I am Chinese too and my mom has the same mentality as your mom. She constantly tells me how good girls don't get tattoos. This also reminds me of when this young teenage customer came into my mom's restaurant to ask my mom if she liked what her tattoo said. The girl had three Chinese symbols on her wrist but my mom had no idea what it said. It turns out the tattoo parlor messed up big time. But I guess that's what she gets for not properly researching the characters and getting a tattoo just to get one.
I too am fascinated by people's strong opinions regarding tattoos. I think you are right to locate the tattoo as a key-idea, or a key-symbol or something. For it is not exactly the word "tattoo" that is in question—or is it? Maybe it is; maybe if people described their body marks with words other than 'tattoo', people would not respond so intensely. Why do we use this general term to smooth over the varied and nuanced reasons that people illustrate their bodies? I really like how you use your personal example as a way into this subject. Are you going to let your family read your post? You should—it is smart and thoughtful, and you are carefully working through and explaining your rationale. I think when you say "prospective" you mean "perspective." There are a few other typos in your post, but all in all I found your post intriguing and insightful. Nicely done, Calvin.
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